


Dashes and Birthday Bashes

by Aitimbre



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Short & Sweet, my first time writing any of these characters so be warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-08
Updated: 2016-09-08
Packaged: 2018-08-13 13:23:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7978207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aitimbre/pseuds/Aitimbre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tenma runs his life at full speed, taking things on at a blurring pace. So much so that he forgets a lot of important things. But the last thing he wants is to forget is his own birthday. Fortunately, he has some close friends that will keep that from happening.</p><p>- Happy Birthday to my special boy Tenma! -</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dashes and Birthday Bashes

**Author's Note:**

> I might be a bit late in the delivery, but I wanted to take some time to wish Tenma a happy birthday and give a character I often overlook some loving. Enjoy!

Tenma hadn't expected to see a cake on the table of the clubroom when he burst through the door that afternoon. He wasn't prepared to see banners strung across the ceiling, for balloons to litter the floor. He had a feeling he must have forgotten someone's birthday - he did that a lot. Birthdays were _super-duper_ exciting and all, but he was always so busy doing other stuff, so much that he would normally forget when a friend of his was getting older. He should probably feel bad about it, but as long as he was there to wish them congrats and have fun, wasn't that enough?

  
This didn't bother him for long, as Tenma's mind quickly went to all of the great party things surrounding him - this kind of stuff was right up his ally. And what with this constant conversation and miscellaneous shenanigans, they'd already cut the cake by the time he'd realized whose birthday it was he'd forgotten.

"Waaah, my birthday!"

His emotions fell and rose in a variety of ways, a mixture of surprise and giddy excitement leaving him temporarily frozen as he held a slice of cake on a plate in his hands. He kept a shell-shocked expression locked onto his features, grinning stupidly like this was something coming completely out of left field. Mostly because that's exactly where it was coming from.

"Hm, what about it?" Tomoya was the first to say anything, his bushy eyebrows furrowed over his brown eyes as he was caught mid-bite. 

"It's my birthday!" His observation morphed into simple glee in the matter of a few moments, and as Tenma bounced up and down in the air, the thick slice of his own birthday cake threatened to soar out of his hands.

"Don't go stating the obvious like that. I thought we already got past that part." Tomoya only began to grow more irritated and confused, and looking around it seemed that Hajime and Nazuna were the same. Tenma didn't even realize that maybe they should know why this was so exciting to him - maybe they could join in on the excitement!

"I completely forgot about it until just now, ehehe ~" 

Following those words the spunky first year was met with a chorus of resounding "eeeeeeeh?"s. 

 

\--

 

 

Following that short spell of awkwardness, the rest of the afternoon went off just as any typical birthday would. Once Tenma was curtly chastised for his forgetfulness by his fellow unit members, his spirit bounced right back up. His seemingly limitless energy soon rubbed off on everyone else, and before he knew it even Hajime, the mildest of all of them, was willing to give a literal whack at the piñata. It was a good long time until everyone was all partied out. All except for Tenma himself, of course. 

 

"Aw, come on Tomo-chan, one more game, one more! _Please?"_ The brown-haired first year bent over in a playful bow, looking up at his friend with wide, saddened eyes. He still had what felt like five tons of fun left in him, enough for him to share with everyone. But no one else bought it, least of all the dirty blonde in question.

"We're all tired out Mitsuru. Unlike you, we actually have a limit to our energy." Tomoya gave an apologetic look, but didn't seem willing to offer him anything more.

Crossing his arms in a pout, Tenma turned his head away from everyone else, cheeks puffed out. "But that's it - I still want to keep going. Can't you guys eat some more cake or something to get you pumped up?" But his desperate words fell on closed-off hearts.

"I don't know Mitsuru-kun. It looks like the sun is beginning to set. Everyone better be heading home shortly." Hajime smiled at Tenma, picking up his now empty teapot. "In fact, I will need to be going myself. I'll have to be arriving at work soon." Nazuna sat himself up once he'd heard this.

"Ah, I'll probably leave with you too. I didn't actually expect to be out this late to begin with." 

As everyone exchanged goodbyes with one another, and half of his unit exited out the door, all that Tenma could muster was another grumpy pout. Already everything was over, and it'd all felt like the span of ten minutes or so.

Tenma kept up this attitude, not thinking to say a word as he loitered around the table, looking with great dismay at the empty chip bowl and torn-apart chocolate cake. He was in the middle of feeling sorry for himself when a voice interrupted him.

"What's up with you? You acted so grateful earlier - so what gives?" 

Yikes. He'd totally forgotten than Tomoya was still in the room. And Tomoya seemed to always be asking him questions like this, questions that Tenma didn't really think he needed to answer. The last thing he wanted to do was bum his friends out along with him. But he could feel the piercing glare of his friend from the back of his head, and Tenma gave in with little fight.

"I don't want this to be a memory." He began simply, turning to face the still-sitting Tomoya with downcast eyes. 

"Why not? You had fun, didn't you?" 

"Of course I did!" Tenma suddenly asserted, clenching his fists as a brighter expression momentarily flashed on his face. 'But... that's exactly why I _don't_ want it to be a memory." 

Tomoya's expression remained unaffected, and he emoted with a single head-tilt. "Sorry, but I don't really get it." 

Tenma grunted a bit, biting his lip sharply as he tried to put words to what he was feeling. That could be hard for him sometimes (he'd always felt actions spoke much louder than words did), but eventually he thought he found the right ones.

"It's like, memories are nice and all - they're fun to look back on and stuff, and remember than you did something great. But it's hard to remember what it feels like, ya know?" He began, loosening up and get more into it as he spoke. "I can't ever look back at memories and remember _feelings_ \- things like the blood-pounding thrill of running really fast, or that heart-pounding excitement when you high-five your teammates after doing well at something. Or the feeling of being around all your friends who surprised you with a birthday party..." His words trailed off, his voice once again dimming down.  

"So I though that maybe, if we just kept the party going, I'd never have to forget the feeling. Because I forget stuff a lot - really important stuff. But I don't want this to be one of them."

Tenma stared at the wooden floorboards for a few moments, waiting for Tomoya to speak. But it was all quiet. Glancing up, he met eye to eye with his friend, noticing something odd - he was smiling, and looking like he was holding back a laugh. Tenma blushed, ashamed and afraid that what he'd just said sounded corny and dumb.

"Haha, I'm sorry. I guess it really isn't that big of a deal, huh?" He forced a fake smile, sadness fogging up his eyes. 

Tomoya shook his head slowly, wiping the false expression off of Tenma's face into one of curiosity. Tomoya stood up from his chair as he spoke. 

"I understand what you mean. But I think I have something that just might help." 

Eyes widening excitedly, Tenma's whole face perked up. "Really, really? What?" 

Tenma hadn't expected to see Tomoya walking up so close to him. He wasn't prepared to feel soft lips on his red-hot cheeks.

And he had a feeling he'd never forget this day, even if he were to forget everything else.

 

 


End file.
